Are you being pummeled by one challenge after the next? Don’t despair. This is exactly how true manhood is built. Trial is a man’s hour. It’s in difficulty – especially extreme difficulty – when a man is proven. It is how he responds to the inner voice of accusation and failure that shows his quality. It’s found in how determinedly he sets his jaw against the weighty discouragement and just keeps standing his ground. It’s found in how he ignores the deafening volume of the seeming failure and keeps going forward.

In this post, I share the spiritual facts that have been critical for me in my moments of greatest crisis. Trials have taught me what true manhood is all about. I pray these truths will inspire and encourage you as much as they have me, no matter what you are going through.

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built for difficulty

A man isn’t proven through success, when his ideas prove brilliant, his power and influence grow, or when his checking account burgeons with dollars.

A man isn’t proven through his attainment of comfort, when his ship finally comes in, when he retreats to the islands for a little R&R, or when his friends and family all surround him and give three cheers.

No. A man is proven when all goes south, when everyone questions his thinking, when it would appear all are leaving him, and when he has not a dollar to his name.

A man is proven through his discomforts, when the weights on his shoulders press down with overwhelming force, his soul is suffocating from lack of perspective, and, according to everyone (including himself), he has led his troupes straight into an Alamo.

Trial is a man’s hour. It’s in difficulty, especially extreme difficulty, when a man is proven. It is how he responds to the inner voice of accusation and failure that shows his quality. It’s found in how determinedly he sets his jaw against weighty discouragement and just keeps standing his ground. It’s found in how he ignores the deafening volume of the seeming failure and keeps going forward. It’s found in how he avoids curling up on the floor, and instead, lifts his head heavenward and declares through gritted teeth, “God, I trust you in even this!”

Difficulty presents a man with a playoff. It offers him a ground on which to prove what he has. Suffering shouts at him, “What have you got, old man? Are you worth Heaven’s reward? Have you planted your feet on the blood sodden soil of the Cross, or are you a waffler?” Lack and Loss clamor, “What do all your accolades mean now, oh, penniless one? Where has your heart been set – on things of this earth or on things above?”

A man isn’t proven when all is easy. A man is proven when all is simply miserable. In fact, watch closely a true God-built man’s countenance in the moment of trial, when the world turns against him, and you will see a wry smile crease his face and a twinkle of thrill alight in his eyes. He is built for such a time as this, and he knows it.

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